Hunter Pence Gets Too Much From San Francisco Giants

By Devin O'Barr

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

In the MLB there are good players and great players, and in my mind Hunter Penceof the San Francisco Giants is simply a good player. Sure, he is exciting and brings a good vibe to the locker room but he is not worth the $13.8M he will be receiving in 2013.

Pence will be 30-years old on April 13th and has yet to do anything that has identified him as a game-changer at the MLB level. He was at best a solid player with the Houston Astros with a .290 batting average, 103 home runs and 61 stolen bases in five seasons. However, in a hitters-friendly park like Minute Maid, the fact Pence wasn’t able to eclipse 25 HR total once is discouraging. In my mind, Pence was best as an Astro and he wasn’t even that good while he was there.

The .219 average that Pence had in 59 games with the Giants has to cause some concern for any Giant fan. He will disappoint in 2013 as his production has decreased almost every season in the league–the money spent on Pence could’ve easily been used somewhere else or saved.

2012 was a strange season for Pence has he enjoyed career highs in at-bats and RBI; but, he also struck out the most times in his career with 145 Ks, and hit a career worst .253 over 160 games. If the San Francisco Giants want to repeat as World Series champions, they will need Hunter Pence to play worthy of his money, but I have feeling they will be regretting this move until the day Pence leaves town.